


Sweet Nothings

by reylomancy



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/M, Swearing, a smutty game of tropes, and Poe Dameron, featuring massive virgin/nerd!Ben, file under "things that were supposed to be silly drabbles but turned into Full-Blown Productions™", in which Ben and Rey are emotionally compromised dorks, otherwise known as Soft Boi Solo, patient Rey who is a saint for putting up w/ our boy, prompt: DOUGHNUTS, the Corporate AU I swore I’d never write, who didn’t ask for any of this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 15:29:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14500044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylomancy/pseuds/reylomancy
Summary: Corporate AU, in which Ben and Rey are flight engineers and struggle with Sexual Tension in the Workplace. Also known by the working title: "God save the HR department at Sky Walker Aeronautics"





	Sweet Nothings

It was Friday, but Ben was hardly thankful.

Specifically, it was the first Friday of the month. Flight-meeting Friday. Just Ben, a handful of engineers, roughly 500 pages of flight logs and data and blueprints for Sky Walker Aeronautics’ latest project, and the project’s test pilot, all convened at some ungodly early morning hour to conference call some obscenely rich shareholder in between golf games on the other side of the world. And there probably wouldn’t even be doughnuts.

Ben leveled the cafe on the corner outside of S.W.A. a dark look. It was too early for them to be open and selling coffee, but he’d already emptied the full thermos he’d brought from home. He was currently running on nothing more than a half liter of caff and a few winks of sleep. The data for the current T-70 fighter project had been heavily delayed, and Ben had spent all night hurriedly piecing together a report in time for this meeting. It hadn’t helped that one of the lead engineers was currently out on maternity leave. And then, of course there was the _pièce de résistance_ : the test pilot wasn’t answering his fucking phone.

Ben could swear under his breath all he liked, but really, the news came as no surprise. It was the rare Flight-meeting Friday that came without that degenerate godson of his mother’s getting drunk off his scruffy ass the night before and sleeping through every damned alarm and ringtone his phone was capable of emitting.

The gray pre-dawn light was just stretching out over the tall apartment high rise as Ben swept brusquely inside, long black jacket flapping cheerlessly around him. He was already in the building, but Ben thought to try his phone one more time as he waited in the lobby for an elevator car, the doorman studiously avoiding eye contact with the scowling giant that had burst in out of the near darkness.

“Dameron. You useless ass, we have a meeting in thirty minutes. Answer your goddamn phone, there’s a reason we gave it to you,” Ben snarled into Poe’s voicemail. Of course, he hadn’t picked up. How many mornings had his neglected alarms jerked Ben grumbling out of bed when they’d been college roommates? Right. Enough that Ben had hunted himself down a single room the very next semester.

The elevator emptied him out on Dameron’s floor, and Ben had to fight the urge to pound down the door. The meeting was in twenty minutes now, and Ben suspected it would be a job getting Dameron presentable for the shareholders. He wasted a few more precious seconds waiting for a response to his knocking, and then he used his key to let himself in. He and Dameron may not have been roommates for years, but Poe was still very much used to Ben dragging him out of bed. Even Leia had her own key, for the rare morning Ben wasn’t available to do her dirty work.

Dameron’s orange tabby chirped at Ben as he let himself in, but otherwise the apartment was quiet. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance and began picking his way carefully through Poe’s messy living room, toward the back bedroom. As an afterthought, he grabbed a glass of cold water out of the kitchen. Good for chasing off a hangover, unless Dameron proved further resistant. Then maybe Ben could douse him with it and have just one nice thing happen this morning. Fingers crossed.

Ben’s swear-laden greeting died on his lips the moment he stomped through Dameron’s open bedroom door.

There was... a _girl_ in his bed.

Okay, to be fair, Ben had in fact pulled Poe out of bed with _multiple_ girls (and guys) over the years. The man was completely irresponsible, but Ben had to admit, he had game (issue number two with being Poe Dameron’s college roommate: constantly getting kicked out of your own room).

This morning was different though. For one, Dameron was nowhere in sight. For another, Ben knew this girl. Knew her, worked with her, talked to her (flirted with her) might have been developing a crush on her. Ben’s pulse suddenly thrummed in his chest and his hands went clammy with sweat—he told himself it was just all the caff.

Rey. Their new flight engineer, recruited fresh out of graduate school in England, was curled up on one side of Poe’s king-sized mattress, twisted around his dark blue sheets and fast asleep. Ben felt his cheeks instantly heat as his eyes took in the thin white slip hiked up high on her smooth thighs, the lacy scrap of white camisole that bared her golden freckled arms and shoulders. Just as suddenly that heat fizzled out when he noticed a white skirt and jacket discarded on the floor. Ben's chest went icy as he recognized the outfit as the one she’d been wearing at work the day before.

She'd only been at S.W.A. for a few weeks, and Ben hadn't exactly been successfully broadcasting his interest (issue number three with being Poe Dameron’s roommate: sorely feeling your comparative lack of game). But that lack of a solid tie to her belied the depth with which he felt the sting of disappointment as it trembled through his body at the sight of Rey’s warm brown hair mussed against another man's pillow, her soft curves enveloped in his sheets.

It was a mercy she was a heavy sleeper, he'd been standing there leering, dumbstruck, at her for long enough that some still-rational lobe of his brain informed him his meeting was now in ten minutes. For all the heartbreak of the surrounding context, she still made an enticing picture, and Ben struggled to tear his eyes away.

Beebee the cat suddenly swished in between Ben’s legs, making a beeline for Rey’s slender foot where it hung over the edge of the bed. Ben’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he shooed Beebee away from Rey's toes (the tabby liked to nip) as he checked his messages.

 

> Dameron: _Useless ass yrself Solo_  
>  Dameron: _Im here - we're all waiting on you prick_

Ben felt a flush of anger and annoyance flare hot across his skin. He growled at the cat, who was now climbing onto Rey’s back and preparing to knead between her thin shoulder blades. Ben plucked Beebee off the bed and began dragging the displeased cat out of the room with him, but then Rey stirred in her sleep.

She'd been curled in the sheets, half on her stomach (it was a monumental effort for Ben to keep himself from noticing the way the position exposed the sweet curve of her rear), but now she shifted further onto her side with a moan.

“Poe?” Rey’s whisper was little more than a throaty rasp, thick with sleep, and Ben’s heart lodged itself in his throat at the small sound. He stepped out of her line of sight, still lugging the sulking tabby, but when Rey didn't speak again he snuck a glance back into the bedroom.

She'd gone right back to sleep.

He threw Beebee out into the hallway, where she landed with a muffled thud and an annoyed trill before primly stalking away in search of food. Ben stepped into the bedroom, approaching Poe's bed with more quiet caution than he'd thought himself capable. Thankfully, Rey didn't stir again.

Her voice had been throaty and dry, so he left the glass of water on the edge of the nightstand for her. This close up, he could count the freckles scattered across her nose, the dark lashes fanned delicately over the tops of her cheeks. His fingers ached to brush against her warm, smooth shoulder, to thread through her unbound brown hair and find out whether it was as mink soft as it looked.

Ben tore himself away instead—he knew he was already playing fast and loose with the line between considerate and creepy. He plucked up one edge of the blanket and carefully arranged it over Rey's bare shoulders, making certain his fingers didn't brush her at all. Surely this was acceptable…

If their places had been switched, Ben likely would have found it acceptable ( _more than_ acceptable) if Rey covered him with her body instead of just a blanket. He shook his head to rid himself of the mental image, and rushed out of the bedroom.

Perhaps Ben was just flustered and sleep deprived, but as he closed the front door behind him Beebee seemed to give him the same look of mocking amusement that Poe probably would have, had he been here watching this awkward encounter go down.

“I'm going to punch your dad in his stupid fucking face,” Ben whispered darkly to the cat.

* * *

 

Several hours and one painfully tedious shareholder meeting later, Ben skulked past the engineering offices on the seventh floor and down to his own office at the end of the hall. He ignored his desk, instead throwing himself onto the worn leather couch in the corner.

Ben rubbed at his face roughly with both hands, debating whether or not he should just pass out right there on the sofa, afternoon meetings be damned. But the more unpleasant highlights of the morning conference kept flashing in his head, holding his attention.

The bitter greeting he'd bitten out at an insufferably cheery and unsuspecting Poe, which earned him some raised eyebrows from the others. The broken coffee maker in the conference room that had continued to test the limits of Ben’s caffless, sleep-deprived functionality. The _myriad_ of questions he'd answered poorly or not at all, leaving the engineers hustling to cover for him as his addled brain refused to think of the T-70 or the production schedule or the status of the thruster patent or _anything_ other than the soft, pink curve of Rey’s lips, or the way the thin camisole had clung to her body, or...

Fuck. Ben kneaded a hand into his forehead, trying to force out the thoughts of his co-worker. He knew he'd been downplaying his growing feelings for Rey, preparing himself for the inevitable disappointment he knew by now to expect. (He did this a lot. Couldn't remember the last time he'd even gotten so far as asking a girl out, his anticipation of failure usually killing things from the start.) There was something different about Rey though, something that had taken hold of him, and something that he now realized made it impossible for him to deny to himself the depth of his infatuation any longer.

“H’lo, Ben!” Came a cheery voice and two sharp knocks on the frame of the office door he'd left ajar. Ben stiffened, dropping his hand away from his face only to find Rey lingering in his doorway, a bright smile on her red-painted lips and a shallow box balanced against her hip.

He nodded back, not trusting himself to open his mouth without something stupid falling out. Merely thinking her name felt obscene after this morning; he couldn't imagine speaking it aloud now. As it was, he could already feel his skin beginning to flush from her mere proximity.

His nod was the only encouragement Rey needed to slip into his office. She had spent enough afternoons chatting with him in here to also automatically forego the desk and chairs, taking her usual spot beside him on the creaky leather couch.

He noticed she wasn't wearing the white dress, but navy blue slacks and a blazer. This was not a relief, however, as Ben’s mind instantly spun horrifying fantasies of her clothes hanging domestically alongside the flight jumpers in Poe's closet, her toothbrush and shampoo lined up in his bathroom next to his shaving cream and body wash. He got so caught up in his imaginings, he had to ask her to repeat herself, only belatedly realizing that she'd been speaking to him. Idiot.

“I'm sorry that meeting went on for so long. I heard Snoke was an especial ass this morning too.” Her hazel eyes were soft with sympathy, and Ben could tell she saw how tired he must look.

He shrugged. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” he managed to croak out, running a nervous hand through his thick black hair. When she spoke, he'd noticed the lacy white edge of none other than this morning’s camisole peeking out from beneath her blazer, and the sight had made his throat go dry.

Mercifully, Rey chose that moment to pop open the cardboard box in her arms, its lid flapping up to hide her slim torso from his desperate stare. Her red lips spread into a warm smile.

“Well hopefully this is something of a pick-me-up,” she chirped, and gestured to the box like a gameshow host. “I brought these in earlier this morning, and managed to keep a few from these animals.” It was a box of Ben’s preferred doughnuts, from the cafe/bakery on the corner. His stomach gave a nervous little twist as he realized she had reserved at least one or two of each of his favorite variations.

She'd brought treats from the same cafe nearly every Friday she'd been at S.W.A.—they'd taken many long breaks to talk together around mouthfuls of sugary dough. Ben had never thought anything of her choice in bakery; it was nearby, she likely passed by on her way to work. But today, he couldn't help putting together the shop’s equal proximity to... Dameron's apartment.

His overtaxed mind began leaping to conclusions before he could summon the energy to stop it. Had they been together all this time? Had he only imagined the shy glances she sometimes leveled at him when she thought he wasn't looking? His stomach gave a harder, sharper twist.

“I've got a video conference in a few minutes, actually.” He rose from the couch and toward his desk, turning his back to her and the stupid, sweet-smelling doughnuts.

Rey raised an eyebrow at him; he swore he could hear the familiar gesture in her voice as she wheedled, “Okay, well I could leave them for later. Gotta eat sometime, Ben.”

He shook his head, and began sorting the papers on his desk into nonsensical stacks, hoping he looked like he was busy preparing for his nonexistent meeting. “It's okay, you can leave them in the break room for everyone,” he mumbled around the lump in his throat.

Rey hesitated, and Ben began booting up his computer as another excuse not to look at her. But then she closed the lid on the doughnuts and rose from the couch. He gave her a tight, what he hoped looked professional smile over his desk as she passed him.

Her voice was soft as she turned to leave. “Okay, Ben, they'll be in the breakroom whenever you're ready.” She bit her lip, as if she was still contemplating whether or not to give voice to her next thought, and Ben tried in vain not to be distracted by the gesture.

“The shareholders don't spend any time around here, they don't see everything it is you do. You’re an amazing project manager, and the T-70 would not be even close to where it's at now without you. We all appreciate you so much, Ben,” her hazel eyes sparked with fervor as she spoke, “Just... hang in there, and ignore the assholes.”

Again, Ben didn’t know what else to do but nod in return, and Rey soon disappeared into the breakroom with his the doughnuts, closing the door to his office behind her. As soon as she was gone, Ben slid further down into his desk chair with a low groan.

Getting a read on Rey was more difficult than interpreting complex aeronautical diagnostics for aging Wall Street bigwigs. Did she see him as just a friend who shared her interest in sweets, a co-worker having a hard day who deserved her pity? Judging by her speech at the end, Ben was guessing it was the latter. Whatever it was, it certainly was _not_ a flirtatious gesture.

And why would she flirt with him, if she had Poe Dameron? He was effortlessly sexy and charming, and he made any amount of scruff look good. If Ben so much as forgot to shave, it unbalanced his whole face, which was hardly conventionally handsome to begin with. Certainly not on par with Rey's… everything. He began wishing for the doughnuts; they'd have made perfect comfort food. He slid further in his chair with a sigh, eyes blinking shut with exhaustion and resignation.

* * *

 

Rey slipped back into her own office with a groan. It was larger than Ben's, with windows looking out over the city, but she shared it with another engineer. Rey dropped into her own desk chair with a sigh, starting moodily at the knick knacks assembled around her computer instead of waking it up. She gave the souvenir flight helmet from the T-65B she'd worked on years ago as an intern a dejected flick.

“Didn't work?” Rey’s officemate, Rose, asked flatly, not bothering to stop typing a particularly long line of code.

“He just seemed like he was trying to get rid of me,” Rey lamented, staring glumly into her twisted reflection mirrored across the front of the helmet.

“How so?” Rose asked without inflection, still typing at her three screens.

“He said he had a _meeting_.”

“So then he had a meeting.” Rose was beginning to sound impatient. Rey blew out a gusty sigh. She knew her fixation with Ben Solo was becoming over the top and it must have been annoying Rose to hear about it all the time. It didn't help that Rose didn't like Ben much.

“I know. I'm sorry, I'll shut up.” Rey picked up the helmet and popped it over her head. “Sorry!” she said again, this time her voice almost entirely muffled by the helmet.

Rose finally laughed, reaching over to snap the face guard up so she could see Rey.

“I'm telling you, Rey, Ben's an idiot. You can't do things like buy him his favorite doughnuts and expect him to pick up on anything from that.” She drummed her fingers against the sides of her keyboard, considering. “You've gotta be direct. Like, really direct.” She smirked. “You should probably just walk into his office and start making out with him. Actually, that might still be too subtle. Maybe take off your shirt first?”

“Ha ha,” Rey muttered tonelessly. Rose laughed at her unamused expression, which was rendered a bit comical by the bulky helmet.

“Okay, okay, fine. But I do think you should at least just ask him out, straight up.”

Rey cringed. “I'm still crashing at Poe's, I don't want things to get weird if we were to go back there afterward… or something.” She felt herself color red at the thought of her and Ben, alone together after a date.

Rose shook her head, the multitude of clips in her short black hair trembling at the motion. “I can't believe you've been in the city for two months and you still haven't looked for an apartment. I'm about to apply for one for you.” She rubbed her chin contemplatively. “Though I suppose I could just as easily kick my stupid sister out of my place and move you in. She _never_ tells me when her girlfriend is coming over, and holy hell are they loud.” Rose glanced at Rey again, seemed to remember who she was talking to, and scoffed.

“Actually, nevermind, if you manage to hook Solo, I have a feeling you two would be ten times worse.” She made a face, and Rey blushed furiously.

“Enough dating talk,” Rey tried quickly changing the subject, “Let's just finish these simulations and get out of here. We can make happy hour at that bar one block over, on Mos Eisley. Just us, Finn, and I'll bring Poe along too.”

Rose grinned, easily convinced. “Now you're talking. I'll text Finn right now.” Rey smiled as she watched her friend eagerly begin messaging the tech down in weapons testing. She'd have teased her as retribution, but Rose wouldn't have even noticed. She and Finn had been dating for years; she knew exactly how in love she was. How Rey envied such surety in her own romantic life.

Rose somehow picked up on her thought, though Rey hadn't voiced it or even let it change her expression. She sent her text, then gave a loud, overblown sigh and rolled her brown eyes theatrically.

“I think you should invite Ben too,” she said begrudgingly, but Rey could tell the tone was mostly teasing. Rose could be sassy and sarcastic, but more than that she was supportive of her friends.

Rey grinned. “If you insist.” She stood up and skipped toward the door, feeling suddenly giddy.

“Oh my god, no, stop.”

“What?”

“Um, one, you were just in there. If he's really having a meeting, you'd be interrupting it. And two,” Rose smirked, “You're still wearing your helmet.”

* * *

 

Ben woke to small, strong hands grasping his shoulder, gently turning him over from where he’d fallen asleep half on his stomach so that he was lying flat on his back. He blinked up at the ceiling with bleary dark eyes. How long had he been asleep? The overhead fluorescents were out, the only light coming from the lamp at his desk.

Rey’s face suddenly swam into focus, heart-stoppingly close to his. The lamp shining behind her head backlit the flyaway hairs escaped from her bun into a honey-colored halo. Her hazel eyes shone soft and warm in the low light as she met his gaze. His eyes trailed from her face down to her arms, still gripping his shoulder. They were slim and bare; she’d removed her blazer, leaving him face to face with the lacy camisole once more.

Quite literally face to face this time—Rey was leaning over him, so close he could have brushed the silky fabric with his lips if he leaned forward a bit. He kept still, but watched through the thin, pale fabric as the dusky points of her breasts hardened. She shivered, as if she’d somehow heard his unspoken desire to lean into her.

“Ben,” Rey sighed, and the breathy way she uttered his name finally triggered the erection he’d been valiantly struggling against since Poe’s apartment. It didn’t matter, what he’d uncovered this morning. Not now, while she was here with him. Not if she would let him touch her, hold her, kiss her. He’d do his damnedest to make sure Poe Dameron would never cross her mind again. He’d worship her, he’d give her everything she could want, she’d see…

“Ben,” she breathed, throatier this time, and Ben found himself cupping her small breasts in his wide hands—he hadn’t even remembered moving them. Rey pressed herself closer with a gasp, and he could feel her hardened nipples brushing into his palms as she writhed. He swallowed dryly.

It took all his effort not to groan out as Rey suddenly swung one long leg across his hips and arranged herself so that she was mounting him on the leather couch. Absurdly, his first instinct was to be embarrassed of his erection. He dropped his hands from Rey’s glorious chest, cupping them instead over his groin. Rey gave a quiet, breathy laugh and gently threaded her tiny fingers through his, coaxing his hands away from his groin and up against the leather armrest above his head. She held his arms in place as she began grinding against him.

A noise somewhere between a cough and a groan burst from Ben's throat as Rey pressed herself down on his erection. She was still wearing her slacks, but they were stretchy and thin, letting her mold against him perfectly. He could hear his pulse beating in his ears, his heart rate climbing and a tense heat spreading through his body as she rocked against him.

“Rey,” Ben choked out her name; she grinned as she thrusted, slow and hard, her hips wiggling maddeningly with each stroke. He let his head fall back as she started picking up speed, and her lips soon found his neck. He shuddered at the sensation of her teeth scraping across his pulse point.

“Faster?” she whispered against his skin, and he nodded, no longer capable of enunciating a proper reply. He was harder than he’d imagined was physically possible, entirely overcome by the soft press of Rey’s curves against him, her slight weight bearing down on him with delicious friction, the wild bucking of her hips against his throbbing cock. The blood in his veins was burning, the tension coiled inside of him stretching so tight that he waited for the moment he was to break...

 

“Ben?” The rushing in Ben’s ears dropped away, and he sat up with a startled gasp. His head swam, dizzy with sleep and disorientation. He was surprised to find he wasn’t lying on the couch, but had in fact been sleeping hunched over his desk. And Rey wasn’t in his office at all, but rather knocking on the door outside.

He’d been… dreaming.

About Rey. Grinding on him.

Ben didn’t know whether he was more horrified that he’d had a sex dream about his co-worker (while at work, no less), or distraught that everything that had just done together hadn’t actually been real. And then, as he stood up to go to the door, brain frantically shuffling for some excuse as to why he couldn’t talk to Rey right now, everything got so. Much. Worse.

The dream may not have been real, but Ben had really and truly come. All over his pants.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck...”

He had old work-out clothes stuffed somewhere in his closet, but he wouldn’t have time to clean himself off and change if Rey decided to open his office door. Should he shout that he was still in a meeting? Stay quiet and hope she just went away? Oh fuck this day was shaping up to be the absolute worst…

He’d committed to just keeping quiet and waiting her out (coward), but then Rey knocked again. His ears caught the sound of her hand resting against the door knob then, and Ben panicked.

“What is it?” he shouted toward the door as he dove back behind his desk and tried with all his might to cram as much of his massive frame beneath the desk as possible.

Rey opened the door a crack, peeking her face inside, and Ben scrambled to hide the look of panic that was no doubt written all over his face. “Do you have a moment?” she stage whispered, eyes darting to his computer.

“Email?” he managed to mouth back, and Rey instantly blushed.

“Of course, sorry!” she squeaked, and instantly shut the door behind her with a soft click. Once she was gone, Ben pulled his fingers through his hair, gripping his head in a desperate, untethered gesture, feeling himself entirely at a loss.

“Holy fucking hell,” he breathed under his breath.

**Author's Note:**

> [Rey's white dress](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dd/01/8f/dd018f74337200acae0ce1b836410fc1.jpg) (I'm just imagining the camisole)
> 
> Fyi, this is my first Reylo fic ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ (And I was craving doughnuts the entire time...)
> 
> Come say hi on [tumblr](https://reylomancy.tumblr.com/)!


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